The picture here looks very simple doesn’t it? It is just a street, some nice trees, an emergency lane or parking area and some water puddles. But if you are a triathlete this is the Mecca, this is the Indianopolis Speedway of triathlon, the Augusta Golf Course of triathlon. Yes triathlon is in the Olympics and that is a big race. But the Hawaii Ironman has its history. From the first winner Gordon Haller, Dave Scott, Scott Tinley, Mark Allen to Chris McCormack. All of then ran these last hundred yards and cross the line first beyond the trees on this road called Alii Drive. The race organizers have changed the course but the last few miles have not changed much.

The great thing about this race is that it is not impossible for anyone to dream of crossing its finish line. Yes it would be nice to qualify and earn one of the coveted spots. But there is also a lottery that allows anyone to get a starting spot. All needed is a little luck. In addition if you have some cash to spend toward a Kona charity you can also buy a starting slot on eBay. Many people including myself complain about many things related to this race. It is a business, it is expensive, it is all about money. But I really love this race for its history and mystique. I am thankful that I have been able to afford to do the sport.

So how did it start for me? If you have been reading my blog and caught my last sport bio post you read that I did an Ironman qualifier without intending to qualify but just to do my first longest race than an Olympic. Well I came within 8 minutes of a qualifying slot. That was close given that I had tons of trouble. Then the race organizers really made a huge deal of awarding the Kona slots. People were crying and it was nuts. So my goal was to go back to this race and get that Kona slot. I did not see myself crying if I got one, just not my style, but it would be really cool to get one eh?

How am I going to get one of these slots? First I have to improve of course. But I was sure I needed to improve more than 8 minutes. The last qualifying time at this race was 4:12. This was a very hilly race with a 1.5 mile swim, 40 mile bike and 10 mile run. So I was thinking I would have to break 4 hours to qualify. That was the goal. Go under 4 hours and Kona here we go.

There was going to be a few challenges. One was the run, next was the hills and the final challenge was the rules.

The first challenge was the run. I suffered in the run during the race so I decided to hire a running coach to help me. There was an Aussie coach with a good reputation. I told him my goal and he helped me with some really hard track sessions and some long hard tempo runs. In one of the tempo runs he ran with me and just about killed me. Too bad there was no MarkAllenOnline then.


My other challenge was the hills. This race was called the Texas Hill Country Triathlon and it was no joke. I lived in Houston and there was not one hill around. So I travelled many weekends to the race site and rode the course hard. I remember riding every hill very hard and recovering on flat and downhill sessions. Basically I was doing intervals. I am not sure if this helped me but it sounded good at the time.

My final challenge was the rules. Let me explain. Back in 1989 the Ironman organizers did not have any prize money for the professionals. The big prize, so they thought was the reputation of being Ironman World Champion. The race organizers did not recognize a professional division like today. They awarded qualifying slots to whoever took the top spot in an age group including the pros. What that meant was that as a 29 year old I had to compete against any professional that was 25-29. For Ironman qualifying purposes the professional and age groups would compete together. The problem was that the professionals went on the first wave, raced in cooler conditions, had better transition spots and they all formed a swim pack that was much faster than me first out of the water in my age group. That was unfair. So what I did was I went and got a PRO card. Yes I was a pro for a few months. Luckily I had enough top 10 overall finishes in races to get it. It was not that hard if I could get one.

So I trained my little tail off to be in the best shape possible. I knew the competition will be very tough. My friend Roger Wacker who I trained with was one of the guys that would be tough to beat. I think there was 4 slots for 25-29 and for sure Roger would be ahead of me. Then who knows how many pros were 25-29. All I could do was my best and see what happened.

Race day came. The funny thing was that Men 25-29 was put on the first wave at the same time as the pros. How ironic eh? I did not need the PRO card after all. But I still had an excellent transition spot. The race started and I did excellent in the swim. I was right in there with the PRO main pack. There were a few guys up ahead but I was in good position. Rode the bike well and got off the bike near Roger Wacker but he passed me in T2 so I never saw him until the turn around of the run. My run went ok. It was better than the year before but I did not feel very well. I was a little disappointed on not being able to do my best. The heat and hills got to me a little. When I finished I looked at my time and I did a 4:02. Not under 4 hours which was my goal but an 18 minute improvement. However I knew I was at least in 3rd position in the AG but I was not sure which PROs would be put in my AG.

My friend Roger Wacker beat me and his time was a 3:58. I think he won the age group but we had no idea how many pros were 25-29. The awards ceremony came and they called Roger for a Kona slot and we were very happy for him. They did not call me unfortunately. But just a few minutes after they announced Rogers’s slot they figured that they had forgotten to add some PROS to the list for Kona purposes. What a nightmare! In the end no real age grouper got a slot. PROs got all the slots and they took Rogers’ slot from his hands. He had already filled out the paper work. But it did not matter, he was not going to Kona. What a mess.

I had improved a whole lot and should have been happy. But I was very disappointed. My run was not that great. I knew I could do better and I was not going to Kona. I was cranky for a long while.

Looking back at this experience; I was lucky I did not qualify. Had I qualified I would have had 7 weeks to get ready for Kona. Knowing now what it takes to do Kona. I should be thankful. It would have been a disaster out there.

On my next bio post I will recount my second season attempt to get to Alii Drive.